Contents

On May 6, 1938, the day Hitler visited Mussolini in Rome, Antonietta, a naïve, sentimental and overworked homemaker, stays home doing her usual domestic tasks, while her fascist husband, Emanuele, and their six spoiled children take to the streets to follow a parade. The building is empty, except for the caretaker and a neighbor across the complex, a charming man named Gabriele. He is a radio broadcaster who has been dismissed from his job and is about to be deported to Sardinia because of his homosexuality and alleged anti-fascist stance. After the family's myna escapes from their apartment and flies outside Gabriele's window, Antonietta shows up at his door, asking to be let in to reach the bird. Gabriele has been interrupted from attempting suicide, but helps rescue the myna by offering it food, and is amused by the episode. Antonietta is surprised by his demeanor and, unaware of his sexual orientation, flirts and dances the rumba with him.

Despite their differences, they warm to each other. The caretaker warns Antonietta that Gabriele is an anti-fascist, which Antonietta finds despicable. Gabriele eventually opens up, confessing he was fired because he is a homosexual. Antonietta confides in him her troubles with her arrogant and unfaithful husband; who, she says, has shown a preference for an educated woman. Throughout their interaction and conversation, each realize that the other is oppressed by social and governmental conditioning and come to form a new impression than the one they first drew from one another. As a result, they have sex, but for different reasons. Gabriele explains that this changes nothing; as does Antonietta. (However, later, when her son reminds his mother of all the newspaper clippings she will have from the parade for her album collection, Antonietta's face reveals a look of slight indifference.) Soon after their intimate encounter, Antonietta's family comes back home and Gabriele is arrested. At the end, Antonietta sits near the window and starts reading a book Gabriele has given to her (The Three Musketeers). She watches as her lover leaves the complex, escorted by fascist policemen, before turning off the light and retiring to bed; where her husband is waiting for her in order to beget their seventh child.

Much of the film's themes revolve around gender roles and the model of masculinity under fascist Italy. Antonietta is the donna madre, a mother figure who meets her feminine responsibilities in the regime by having six children, boasting one more will secure her the government bonus established for large families in 1933.[1] The Fascist regime equates homosexuality with depopulation, and thus, Gabriele is suspected of treason.[2] The bachelor tax of 1926 was a measure against this, and Gabriele has to pay it.[3] While the stay-at-home mother and homosexual neighbor would seem to be an improbable pairing, both are minimized by the regime, and find comfort and some sympathy in each other.[4] At the end of the film, domestic life will continue as usual, but "inner resistance" to Fascism has been awakened.[5]

Due to the abundance of news coverage of Hitler's visit to Rome in 1938, the filmmakers had plenty of footage to write a screenplay around.[6] The public service film The Führer's Trip to Italy was especially mined for footage.[5] Faced with a lack of funding from Italian producers, the filmmakers persuaded investors in Canada to support the project.[8] Canafox, a company based in Montreal, co-produced.[9][10]

A number of unusual cinematic techniques are used in this film. A long take scene introduces Antonietta and her family: the camera enters through the kitchen window and moves into the rooms.[11]Deep focus is utilized in a scene in which the camera is in Antonietta's room with her in the frame, and through a distant window Gabriele can simultaneously be seen moving in his house in the same frame.[12]

In 2008, it was featured on the list of the 100 Italian films to be saved, chosen by a jury of film experts for preservation.[18] In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter critic Deborah Young praised it as "one of the most telling films ever made about Italian Fascism," which "suggests a path that cuts through mass-think ideologies, one that anyone can follow with a little human solidarity and courage."[5] Writing for the LGBT-oriented Out, Armond White said the film demonstrated empathy before falling into the mawkish, and Mastroianni was great.[19] Mike D'Angelo of The A.V. Club gave it a B-, saying the film became more powerful through its runtime, although there is less of a story. D'Angelo felt it was positive the sex between the protagonists is not claimed to convert Gabriele to heterosexuality, but thought it was sexist that Antonietta is dependent on sex.[16]